


Crossed Lines

by infiniteworld8



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bigotry & Prejudice, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Kissing, Everyone Stereotypes Orions, F/F, Femslash, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Interspecies Awkwardness, Interspecies Relationship(s), Learning to be Loved, Miscommunication, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Starfleet Academy, Xenolinguistics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 00:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7663663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infiniteworld8/pseuds/infiniteworld8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My first f/f fic....unbeta'd any mistakes are solely my fault :/</p>
    </blockquote>





	Crossed Lines

**Author's Note:**

> My first f/f fic....unbeta'd any mistakes are solely my fault :/

She was only a few months into this human—earth—total freedom thing. It was a heady combination. Finally free from the syndicate, free from those who would try to control her when her lifelong slavers were light years away.

So why didn’t she feel free.

Human’s modesty and love but they also valued sex and lust..they said they didn’t but she knew better. Besides the skimpy skirt just covering her front and the swell of her buttocks while showing off all the rest and the tiny strip of sequined material covering half her breasts felt comfortable. It was better than what she had worn back while she was in the syndicate…back then she had often been nude…forced to be nude. But for an Orion woman nude was natural…it was normal.

Not so on Earth.

Things were different on Earth…Uhura had told her. And she had read the book on humans she had found in the academy library…it still wasn’t clear though. So as always Gaila dived into the pool straight into the deep end and she swam.

“Hey sweetheart.” Gaila glanced up to see a human with a ruddy face and sandy blond hair sauntering over to her. He thumbed a finger towards another man who was following him. This one wit brown hair and both of them dressed in casual clothes. “Nobody’s taken you out dancing yet. You’re looking a little green…maybe with envy.” He reached out touching her shoulders without asking. Not forcefully holding her like they would on Orion…not hiking her skirt up. Not touching her between her legs and forcing his fingers and other parts into her. This was human touch, _platonic social touching_ the book had said.

She was supposed to smile…that was how to fit in. So Gaila did. He smiled back looking a little uncertain. “You want us to show you a good time? You want to have fun.”

Gaila nodded gulping back her drink she was holding. _Fun_ sounded nice. Gaila turned to tell Uhura where she was going but Uhura was dancing with some Cadet from the academy, her shiny metal earrings jingling as she moved. Her hair swaying. Her hips moving in time with the beat.

“Hey sweetheart? You ready?” Gaila pulled her eyes away from Uhura…She was ready…Gaila was half positive Uhura didn’t like her anyway.

The other woman was too proper, too conservative…too much better than the Orion whore she had been forced to room with. A smile forced it’s way onto her lips and Gaila smiled again, batting her eye lashes. She reached out touching one of the men’s waists. _Human Flirting_. Human’s didn’t flirt by sex, the flirted with brushed hands just a little to low, kisses, little laughs, snarky double entendres.

As the guy reached out and cupped her butt… _not going lower than that_ Gaila figured that was normal…he was human. An Orion..or hundreds of other customers that had been her customers wouldn’t have stopped themselves there. They never did.

Gaila danced with the guys, giggling at their comments. Letting them touch her and touching them back.  A few people trickled home as the nigh wore on and Uhura turned to her. “Ready to go.”

Uhura’s eyes were glinting for some reason, and she seemed to be angry. She was looking at Gaila then the two guys standing near her, one with his arm slung around her.  She didn’t approve…she’d never approve of anything Gaila did. She was too perfect and Gaila was too ruined.

“I’ll stay.” Gaila took a sip of her sixth drink (maybe it was her seventh… she wasn’t sure since the guys she was with had bought her the last few). Uhura started to say something but one of the guys stopped her.

_Mark…Jackson…something with an L maybe…_

She didn’t really know and that was fine.  “Gaila, I—“ Uhura was cut off.

“She said she’s staying.”

“I’m not talking to you asshole.”

“Well I’m talking to you. Butt out of this…”

“While you try to take advantage of a girl you got drunk?”

“She’s an adult.”

“She’s from Orion. You’re acting like a bunch of fucking rapists and—“

Uhura was growing loud, drawing some stares. Gaila felt embarrassed. She wasn’t just an Orion, she wasn’t a girl…hadn’t been one for years…since a little past the time she could walk.

Uhura didn’t know rape…she didn’t know hands forcing you, people telling your making you, whipping you beating you until you had no choice to obey…her having fun wasn’t rape and Uhura didn’t understand that…too many human customs in her little human brain…she couldn’t see Gaila was a person to. She could make her own choices now…had to…wanted to.

“I’m staying.” The words were slurred, and Uhura stared at her something unreadable in her eyes. They stayed like that for a long moment, eyes boring into each other. Then something fell , a drink tray crashing to the ground. Uhura turned to look and Gaila slipped away.

Minutes later she heard Uhura calling for her…but she ignored the one and eventually Gaila watched , as she sipped her eighth drink…Uhura stalked out the door.

Mark found her then.

Gaila had decided that was his name…Mark was all hands. His friend came back too…Gaila decided he was Luke…those were human names…not Orion ones. They didn’t make her skin crawl…

Eventually the party was nearly empty. It was only a few left…Mark and Luke said she could go back to their room. They roomed together. She was drunk and her roommate was mad…it was a better option then sleeping curled up on a floor somewhere or having Uhura do something to her while she was asleep….her last roommate had done that.

She had gotten of, the academy said it was a prank. They had said it was a joke when the pictures of her with a vibrator taped in her mouth and one tucked down in her with her panties around her ankles and her duct taped while she slept had surfaced on the academy comm.. . She was Orion…Orions were kinky.

A slap on the wrist for Cadet Ballerini and a memo to be more discreet….not a crime…just a joke. Gaila didn’t think Uhura would do that…but she couldn’t be sure.

She got back to their room and used the shared bathroom…it was then she realized she didn’t have any clothes for the night. She had come out to ask for a T-shirt and found four guys there…they whooped and hollered at the sight of her topless and Gaila forgot for just a moment what was the big deal.

Humans weren’t used to nudity….they weren’t used to it at all. Her face blushed a deeper green and she awkwardly pulled a slightly smelly T shirt on. The fabric skimmed mid thigh.

“Coming out to put on a show for us?” Mark asked…his face was redder than ever.

“A show?” Gaila frowned unsure was it some sort of slang her course in human social studies hadn’t covered yet.

“A show…a tits and ass show.” One of the men she didn’t know said the words and then Gaila got it. She pulled back.. taking two steps back until her heels knocked the bed frame.

“No.”

“No?” Luke smirked. “Didn’t they cover manners back on Orion? Quid pro Quo?”

That phrase was some past Earth language…she couldn’t remember for which though….it was slang to for something…she didn’t know that either.

“We bought you drinks sweetheart, showed you a little fun…maybe you could share…offer something back.”

“I don’t have many credits and—“

“Money’s not the end all in life—you’ve got a lot more to offer.” One of the cadets left at that and Gaila was alone with three of them. Mark, Luke and the guy she didn’t know the name of.

Minutes progressed and they asked and wheedled and soon she broke down. She was tired and drunk and wanted to sleep. It took nothing from her…they were gentle…gentler at least than most of her customers had been…and they were right…or at least she thought they were right.

This was humanity…when someone took someone else on a date, or at a party or bought them drinks then usually something else followed…It was normal.

Still her eyes burned as she tugged her T shirt down over her hips as the last one rolled off her. The man she didn’t know left then and Gaila wanted to also…but her clothes were in the bathroom, and she was so drunk she knew she couldn’t find her way back to her room.  Plus she wasn’t sure the guys would like her leaving…..that was it she convinced herself…not that they wouldn’t let her leave.

She rolled as far away from Luke as possible settled down to sleep. His bed was soft at least and his pillow hid her tears.

****

Gaila watched her roommate dance. Her hips moved swaying side to side elegantly, her hands and arms twisting around her gracefully accentuating her movements. She laughed her teeth glinting, ear rings shimmering and dress swirling around her. Uhura danced without care, without worry that she was not fitting in or the person she moved in time with would perceive her actions as more than having fun.

Uhura was what Gaila wanted to be. Strong, confident, beautiful. Not trying to fake it all instead of actual feeling it. “Did you want to dance?”

Gaila turned to her date for the night. He was tall, dark skinned and sweet…not a term she would have typically used. Sweet wasn’t something that applied to guys who wanted to take Orion’s on a date…but he was.  He was sweet and that made her sad.

This wasn’t a date because he actually wanted to take her, this was a date because he pitied her.

“Sure.” She grinned at Cadet Henry Fitch (that was how he had introduced himself when they first met). Henry smiled at her, warm and pleasant. A perfect gentleman. He escorted her to the floor, his hand just above her waist, (not groping but guiding). He held her like she was an actual person as she slowly moved with him in time with the music.  Gaila wanted to believe he was doing this for her, but she knew why. Earlier in class that day, there had been talk about the party tonight, who was going with who namely. Gaila was left alone…no one wanted to take the Orion out, not to a black tie affair where a dearth of senior cadets would be. She was good enough for the down and dirty bars, but definitely not the high class of an Academy party.

Gaila would have laughed…except it wasn’t funny. Still she saw the irony…on Orion she had been a higher class in the houses….people wanted her…sometimes she even convinced herself they needed her. Here though, she wasn’t needed, or wanted she was just used.

It hurt, but what choice did she have. Earth was better than Orion. Freedom was better than the invisible chains of no choice and no future. Or so she told herself every night as her chest drew tight and she wanted to cry.

“I’ll take you.” Gaila pulled back slightly from the warm heavy hand trying to touch farther down her cadet uniform than sexual harassment regs should have allowed.

“I don’t think I’ll go.”

“All the first years are going babe, you don’t want to be left out.” He leaned close, his thick lips curved in a fake smile. “What were you going for? Engineering? I have some connections, my father is a part of the selection committee, come out with me.”

He grabbed her hand and gave it a kiss, like he was a gentleman…like he actually cared for her. “Spend the night with me and even an Orion like you can see the inside of a starship one day.”

Gaila had pulled her hand back like she had been stung. And that was when Henry stepped in as the cadet became more insistent. “No one will take this –“ He bit off the word and cut his eyes at her and what he said next wasn’t what he had been about to say. “girl to the party…I’m doing her a favor. She’s got  a bad reputation, you just see if anyone else wants you.” The last part he added to Gaila. And that was when Henry jumped in.

“I’ll take her.” He had turned to her then. “I hear you’re top in Fundamentals of warp core engineering….maybe you could give me some pointers tonight?” And that was why she was here with him, not because he had jumped in, his pity was bad enough. But at least he knew a little about her besides that she was the Orion Slut….her words—never his.

Still, even as they danced and he talked, Gaila knew she wasn’t the type of girl he would take home to his parents. She wasn’t the person he’d love.

Henry was hers for a day. The night ended and his kiss on her cheek burned as she walked away. Gaila came back to their room before Uhura. And she was still awake when Uhura walked in early that morning…so early it was still dark. Gaila turned over pretending to be sleeping…she was sure Uhura wasn’t like her other roommate…but she was also sure Uhura didn’t like her.

Gaila buried her face in her pillow trying to still the sobs. She thought she was quiet enough, but she must nt have been because Uhura’s fingers were on her shoulder. “Gaila?”

“Hmmm?” Gaila didn’t turn her head, but there was no point pretending she was asleep. Uhura had ears to rival a rabbit

“You’re crying.” It was a statement not a question.

Gaila gave a muffled half-hearted. “I’m not.” She didn’t resist though when Uhura gently turned her over and stared into her eyes.

Warm tears dripped down Gaila’s cheeks and she felt like a fool.  


“What happened?”

Gaila shrugged. It was stupid. And Uhura wouldn’t care.

“Was it Fitch?” Uhura’s lips tightened, until her mouth was  a narrow line. “Did he do something? Because if he—“ Uhura launched into a list of threats and plans and Gaila just watched stunned.

Stunned that Uhura…primp, proper…everything going for her and no reason for her to care Uhura--actually cared. Gaila watched her longer, liking the way her black hair moved as she talked, the way her face was bright with righteous anger, the way her eyes were bright and animated.

She wanted to watch longer, but Uhura was reaching for her comm. So Gaila stopped her. “It wasn’t Fitch.”

“Who was it then? Did someone hurt you?”

Gaila bit her lip, tears falling then. “It wasn’t anyone today…not today.” And that was all she would say, the whole night, as tears fell down her face. Uhura’s attempted questioning soon fell silent, and Gaila started to curl in on herself, but before she could do so she felt herself being pulled into a hug. It was a gentle embrace….not gentle like Henry’s had been.

This one was unreserved. It said “You’re okay…you’re a person….you’re a friend.”

Abruptly Gaila blurted out what she had been thinking. “I didn’t think you cared.”

Uhura who was patting her back awkwardly said then. “I always care, Gai.” Her lips quirked into a slight smile…and Gaila imagined she heard _about you_ at the end.

****

They became friends sometime over the next few weeks. Neither was really sure when it had started. When did acquaintances, become roommates...become friends? Was it when Gaila helped Uhura plait her hair for defense class….or when they studied together and both laughed at Kirk the cadet who was always flirting with everyone as he got a dessert dumped over his tray…or maybe it was when Gaila and Uhura went out together (just as friends) because neither of them had a date and neither wanted one.

Gaila loved Uhura, she was bright and happy and that was infectious. Gaila felt like a person when she was with her and not a piece of trash to be used. When she was with Uhura things felt right and she felt right inside herself just as she was. Uhura made her feel something that she thought might have for the first time in her short life been the elusive feeling she had heard of but never felt: Love

She knew Uhura didn’t love her like that though…Uhura was into guys and guys only. Uhura loved her like a friend…and Gaila didn’t know how exactly she loved Uhura. There was friendship there, but something else also.

Sex was something she knew…it was something she liked…sometimes even enjoyed. But love…love was foreign.  And besides Gaila convinced herself it was enough…to watch Uhura from afar, to smile, laugh, talk with her…it would have to be enough.

****

It wasn’t enough.

“You’re very pretty.” That was how the night started…it was just a variation of what Gaila was used to saying. Later when she was pressed against some sweaty  body in the hallway and kissing a cadet she barely knew he whispered in her ear as he thrusted into her. “I ‘luv you.” The words were slurred and he grunted them out as he came. He kissed her some more, sloppy wet flutters against her neck. His body jerked, moving against her as he finished and then he was pulling away. Gaila hadn’t came, she hadn’t said a word. He didn’t even notice the tears in her eyes as he pulled away and zipped up. He walked down the hallway leaving her alone.

It wasn’t love.

Gaila tugged her dress down and wiped the tears from her eyes. The necklace Uhura had placed on her neck that night –“you’ll look so pretty in this Gai, have fun on your date—“ burned her skin. Gaila swiped the tears away and bit her lips so hard she tasted blood. She wouldn’t cry.

Credits were begging to be spent and she walked back out into the bar. Another drink and another lay on her mind…booze and sex…if she got drunk enough and had enough sex then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much that no one actually wanted her. A smile slipped on her lips and she batted her eyes at another guy. He smiled back walking towards her.

Gaila wasn’t happy.

****

“Is this what friends do?”

“What do you mean?”

Gaila ate another spoonful of ice cream before passing the carton to Uhura and sucking the last of the strawberry chocolate goodness off her own. She licked it clean before answering.

“This…tonight.” Gaila gestured to the snacks spread out and the wine, and ice cream and them curled up in their pajamas, shoulders, feet…thighs touching. She felt she was sure of the answer…but she wanted to be sure. She wanted to make sure that humans did this…cuddling, eating together, holding each other…as friends…not as a date. She wanted to make sure she was right…and she was understanding humanity.

_Gaila also desperately wanted Uhura to tell her she was wrong._

Uhura took her own time in answering. Her face was inscrutable, her spoon danced in the carton stirring it into a slurry. “Yes—this is what friends do.” Uhura glanced at her as she spoke. “Is that all you wanted to know.”

Gaila swallowed, wanting to confess, but also not wanting to spoil the moment. She shrugged. “I just don’t understand human’s sometimes.”

The last part she hadn’t meant to say out loud, and had whispered it under her breath..but of course Uhura heard with her better than average hearing. “And what don’t you understand.”

“Nothing.”

“Come on Gai, I can tell something is bothering you.”

“It’s nothing.” Gaila turned the holovid they were watching back on.

Uhura turned it off.

“Spill.”

“Or what.”

“Or nothing. I just want to know what’s going on.”

“I don’t want to tell you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know how you’ll take it.”

“What?”

Gaila bit her lip, and intertwined her fingers in her lap. She hadn’t meant to say any of that but Uhura had a way of making her admit things she never wanted to. Like now. “I don’t think of you as a friend…” Gaila whispered the last part in obscure old Orion….half hopeful Uhura would know the word and half hopeful she wouldn’t.

She glanced back at Uhura as she spoke. Uhura looked at her and her face visibly fell. Her eyebrows knitted together. Gaila wanted to take back what she had said. Uhura was looking awkward and unsure of what to say .

“Okay.”  Uhura cleared her throat, and said it offhandedly even though Gaila could tell she was upset. “I wasn’t expecting that…”

Gaila ran over what to say, wanting to tell Uhura the rest but hesitating at not knowing how the other woman would react. The wine had loosened her tongue enough that she only paused for a few seconds before starting to say. “Uhura, I don’t think of you as a friend because…” _I think of you as something more than that—_ died on Gaila’s tongue as Uhura interrupted.

“Seriously, Gaila you don’t have to explain…” Uhura didn’t look at her as she spoke. Her eyes were carefully elsewhere and her voice was curiously high. “We’re just roommates after all and—“

Gaila’s heart sank, as she realized not only had Uhura not caught the word but she didn’t want anything with her anyway. She wanted to argue with Uhura and tell her how she felt, but her nerve failed her. Uhura didn’t say anything else, instead she turned on the holovid again. She didn’t speak for the next fifteen minutes and when she did it was to say.

“You know what it’s late…I’m going to bed.” Then Uhura was gone and Gaila was left wishing she hadn’t spoken.

The next few days passed awkwardly. Uhura had pulled back on studying with her, walking to class with her, snuggling up next to her…pretty much everything they did together.

Gaila wished every day that she hadn’t spoken, because Uhura as a friend was better than Uhura as nothing…She should have known the other woman wouldn’t have wanted her as something else…who would…who ever would.

And if they weren’t Uhura, Gaila wasn’t sure she’d want them back.

They barely spoke to each other now. Uhura, Gaila figured was angry. And Gaila was too embarrassed and feeling worthless to even begin to figure out an apology.

_How did you apologize for loving someone?_

They went to the senior cadet party in apart. Gaila had a date, some fourth year cadet with bluish skin and gold eyes. And Uhura went with someone from her linguistics club. Neither was interested in their date,  and Gaila found herself drinking drink after drink three seats down from each other at the bar. Gaila downed her whiskey like a pro and pretended she didn’t notice Uhura glancing at her. When she finally dared to look Uhura had turned away and slipped back into the crowd of dancing cadets.

Gaila was the first to get back to their room. She ditched her date…before they had sex….and after he had tried. Sleeping with someone wouldn’t make her feel any better when after the after-sex glow had faded she would lie awake and wish that she was in her own bed and not lying there next to a person who saw her as a body.

She was drunk enough that she’d sleep the night and wake up with one hell of a hangover.  She was drunk enough that she almost didn’t care Uhura’s bed was empty and if it wasn’t Gaila still would have slept alone. She stripped her dress off , washed up, and pulled on her pajama’s. She was just settling down to sleep when the door burst open.

“Stop!” A giggle. Footsteps backing into the room, the swish of fabric and then—Uhura. She wasn’t alone. Her date was wrapped around her, kissing her, groping her. One hand fumbling at her clothes trying to itch them off. Gaila skin felt like it was burning.

It only took Uhura a moment to notice her then she pulled away slightly. “Didn’t know you’d be back tonight. “

Maybe it hadn’t been intended as an insult, but Gaila took it as one. “Why is that?”

“Well you had a date, I just thought.” Uhura sounded a bit awkward now and Gaila knew it was vindictive of her but couldn’t stop herself.

“You  thought I’d be sleeping with him.”

Uhura blushed. “Gaila, I—“

Gaila wasn’t finished. “I’m the same to you as everyone else. The Orion slut.”

Confusion, morphed to discomfort, than back to confusion. “Gaila what is this about?”

“Nothing…it’s about nothing.”

“Gaila I never called you that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Gaila and Uhura were talking directly to each other and Uhura’s date was forgotten. Uhura had pulled away from him and the two women were staring at each other. “I’m going to leave now.”

“You can stay. I’ll leav—“ Gaila started

“Fine, I’ll see you tomorr—“ Uhura began.

Uhura’s date hesitated a moment longer then slipped away.  It was just them now. Uhura glanced back after her date then turned back her eyes boring into Gaila’s.

“What’s going on?” Gaila didn’t respond so Uhura continued. “You’ve been avoiding me and—“

“”I’ve been avoiding you?” Gaila laughed mirthlessly. “You’re the one who’s been acting like I’m dirty—like I’m the Orion whore—like—“

“You keep calling yourself that.”

“I’m saving you the trouble of it Ny.” Gaila laughed again, tears streaming down her face. Uhura took a few steps closer, half worried half bewildered.  Gaila continued half hysterical. “I’ll never be good enough.”

“Good enough for what?”

Gaila didn’t answer that, Uhura’s scent was wrapped around her, the delicate yet pungent perfume she wore, the scent of her sweat, the liquor on her breath. Her eyes were bright, and her lips, were just the perfect shade. It was part alcohol part longing that made her close the gap between them.

Before she knew it her lips were on Uhura’s.  It wasn’t like she expected, the kiss was surprised at first, Uhura’s mouth yielding to hers, but then after a second Uhura was responding back. It was thirty seconds to short before Gaila pulled away, her senses finally coming back to her. She broke apart from Uhura with a strangled gasp, like cold water had been doused on  her. Uhura was staring at her, with shock.

All Gaila could think about was what she was…so dirty…so tainted…just the Orion whore. So many people’s words…Uhura’s thoughts…Gaila’s truth.

“I’m sorry.”

She backed up. “So sorry.”

She slipped past Uhura and left.

****

Uhura wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, last night but she couldn’t concentrate on her classes. She was third place in her Vulcan midterm quiz and had to deal with Kirk’s annoying smirk the rest of the class as a result. But even his annoying expression wasn’t enough to make her forget Gaila.

The kiss they had shared…the look of anger and hurt in Gaila’s eyes. It all made sense…except it didn’t. For the first time in years Uhura skipped a class. As she thought back to over a week ago, and the word Gaila had used which was forgotten till now. It was Orion of that Uhura was mostly sure but she had no idea what it meant. By mid day the need to know overrode anything else.

 She begged off the teacher with a bad headache and instead of going to sickbay she stopped by the linguistics lab. She spent hours,  hundreds of databases, several consultations with numerous professors and teacher’s assistants and by then she had her answer.

She left the lab just as early evening was setting in. She asked around for Gaila, but after trying the places she had last been seen and having no luck Uhura started towards the messhall for a late dinner. Halway there she changed her mind and instead went back to their shared room, he stomach wasn’t up to food…and it probably wasn’t up to liquor anyway, but the sting of whiskey down her throat made up for the ache in her heart…a little at least.

She was just past I would never do this sober…and way before I have no idea what I’m doing when Gaila stumbled in. The combination of liquor and the need to let Gaila know she knew…gave her the courage to say. “I know what you meant a week ago.”

Gaila glanced up at that looking for all the world like a scared child. Her eyes were wide, and even though it was probably years (if ever) before she had been allowed to have any childlike innocence she still looked that way…innocent and broken. She walked forward collapsing on her bed. “You can forget it.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Well I want you to!” Gaila looked up, her eyes shining with anger and humiliation. “I was drunk that night…and last night….it didn’t mean anything.”

“You kissed me and you said—“

“I know what I said. And I also know I didn’t mean it…I know you don’t want me.”

“I do.”

Gaila looked up at that from where she had been staring at the floor. Her eyes were disbelieving but her face was hopeful.

Uhura hurried on. “I know we were both drunk and I’m sorry for kissing you and—“

“I wanted that.” Gaila whispered the words with more tears building in her eyes..

And Uhura hurried to finish. “I’m sorry for kissing you and then letting you leave.”

Gaila opened her mouth and then closed it, then opened it again, but no sound came out. So Uhura continued.

“I spent some time at the linguistics lab today and I figured out what you meant….the word you said a few weeks ago was in Orion and translates as best as I can make out to lover/partner—“ Uhura broke off the continued. “But it also can have a different meaning when used to refer to a human: friend…”

Gaila knew what the unspoken part of the question was so rather than answer, she asked a question of her own. “Which do you want Ny?”

Uhura didn’t speak, instead she leaned forward and kissed Gaila for an answer.

Gaila responded back and they kissed until they were both breathless. “I think you know what I want.” Gaila grinned kissing her back. She traced a finger down Uhura’s next feeling her warm skin, tracing the curve of her collar bone. They laid back on the bed, arms and legs twining together.  Clothes somehow being shucked and all the while kisses and longing touches interspersing it all.

Gaila traced one green finger over the brown skin covering Uhura’s collar bone and Uhura trembled under her touch. Gaila giggled letting her hand trail downward, past the firm swell of her breast down to her navel and Uhura pulled away for a moment, looking sheepish. “Gai, I should probably tell you something.”

“What.” Gaila, tried not to tense, keeping the apprehension from her voice that maybe this was all some joke or a dream.

“This is my first time—“ Uhura added as Gaila’s eyes widened. “Not for sex, but with a woman.” Gaila froze, wondering if Uhura wanted to continue, but before she could decide Uhura kissed her lightly on her neck, her teeth nipping the skin.

“But I’m happy it’s with you.” Uhura moved against her then, subtly edging them both on. She was patient, and gentle and equal parts giving and receiving. And as Gaila laid with her she realized this was her first time too.

Her first time with someone who actually loved her.

 


End file.
